1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape printing apparatus and method that is capable of performing a preview print which enables the user to gain prior information about a print image to be obtained as an ultimate result of printing.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, there have been widely used tape printing apparatuses of a type which has a "preview display" capability of displaying an image of an entered character string so as to allow the user to gain prior information about a print image of the character string to be obtained as an ultimate result of printing of the same. In a tape printing apparatus of this type, data similar to print data is formed for use in display, and then "preview display" is performed based on the data. In general, tape printing apparatuses have a small display area on a display screen, so that when a long character string is entered, or when a tape width is wide, not the whole of an image of the character string but only part of the same is displayed. Therefore, in order to check on the whole of the image, it is required to scroll the image manually by using cursor keys or the like, or automatically without using any cursor keys or the like, as shown in FIG. 5. Further, some tape printing apparatuses have a capability of displaying an image of a character string by reducing the size of the image, dependent on its length or the like, as shown in FIG. 6, so as to allow the largest possible area of the print image to be viewed.
However, the above tape printing apparatuses suffers from the following problems: In the case of the FIG. 5 example, only part of the print image can be displayed at a time, and hence it is required to scroll the print image, so that it takes time to check the whole of the image, and an overall image of the entered character string cannot be readily obtained by the user. Further, in the case of the FIG. 6 example, although a relatively large area of the print image can be viewed at a glance because the size of the image is reduced, small fonts are inevitably defaced if the display is low in resolution, which makes fine portions of the character image difficult to read.